


My Christmas fics that I couldn't finish in time...

by sophieelivingston



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - It's a Wonderful Life Fusion, Christmas Fluff, I'm sorry I couldn't post this sooner, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Merry Christmas!, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 11:51:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17182454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophieelivingston/pseuds/sophieelivingston
Summary: Hey guys, I know that in my last fic, I said that I'd work on some holiday fics for Christmas, but I didn't have enough time to finish them.  I'm only half way through both, and it's already after Christmas, but my fics are like my children, so I'm not giving up on them. I'll finish them both next year, but for now, here's a little preview of both fics too tied you guys over. The first one is a Be More Chill fusion of 'It's a Wonderful Life', and the second is a Dear Evan Hansen fusion of 'A Christmas Carol'. I hope you guys enjoy these previews, and that they get you excited for the Christmas fics I have in the makings for next year.Merry Late Christmas!





	1. It’s a Chiller-ful Life

**Author's Note:**

> Jake is always so depressed around the holidays, so his friends decide to cheer him up with a surprise Christmas party. However, when Jake ruins the party with his Scrooge-y-ness and drives everyone out on Christmas Eve, he wishes that he was never born. Later that night, he's visited by his guardian angle, Britton, who takes Jake on a magical journey to show him just how important he is to his friends!  
> Britton the angle is Britton Smith from the Off-Broadway production of BMC btw, and the ugly Christmas sweater designs came from @crazygalcomics from Instagram
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Be More Chill in anyway way possible.

It’s not that Jake hated Christmas, he just never bothered to get into it. He never attended any parties, nor did he throw any himself. He never really decorated, and he barely ever participated in any Christmas activities.

In fact, whenever someone asked for his opinion on any Christmas stuff like, decorations, cookies, or songs, his mouth would say something like ‘It’s good’ or ‘It’s great’, but his tone would say ‘I really couldn’t care less, but I think that’s what it is.’

Again Jake didn’t hate Christmas. He kind of treated the holiday like a roommate who never ended up being his friend. It would come around once and a while and when it would, Jake would be nice to it and acknowledge it. However, it never seemed like Jake’s type of friend, so he never bothered to get to know it better, and continued to maintain that solid roommate relationship. Though there was one Christmas activity he’d always participate in, and that was gift giving. It just didn’t seem right for his friends to give him something, and not give them anything in return. So to be fair, Jake always gave presents to every one of his friends, and received his with gratitude. For him, Christmas was pretty much just a highly anticipated gift exchange, and that’s the way he liked it.

 

* * *

 

 

Every year, on Christmas Eve, his group of friends would throw a holiday party together at Chloe’s house, but of coarse, Jake never attended. He’d always come up with a new excuse ever year not to go.

This year it was “I’m sorry, but this year I kind of just feel like being alone.”

He sort of regretted saying that, looking back to the worried look on Chloe’s face when he told her that a couple days ago. While he hoped he didn’t start anything, since Chloe tended to let things escalate, it was hard to care about anything while lying down on his bed, in his nice, warm hotel room, watching one of the very few channels on tv that weren’t showing any Christmas specials, waiting for his boyfriend, Rich, to return. Rich went to Chloe’s Christmas party every year, and even though Jake and him were a couple now, he didn’t obsess over Jake not coming with him. Or even doing any cute couple Christmas stuff for that matter. No baking cookies together, no matching Christmas sweaters, or even buying a Christmas tree together. The only decoration the two shared in their hotel room, was a tiny table top pine tree, with one red bulb on it. As much as Rich loved how it resembled the tree in _‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’_ he still thought they could use a bit more Christmas cheer in their room. Nonetheless, he kept his Holiday opinions to himself, for he would never intentionally upset his boyfriend.

There was still one gift Jake hasn’t exchanged yet, and that was his gift for Rich. It was sitting on the on the bed, in a simple brown bag, next to Jake, just waiting to be opened.

It was 11:30pm when Rich finally returned home, wearing a black coat and a Santa hat.

“Hey babe.” he said as he closed the door behind him.

“Hey,” Jake said without looking up from the tv, “Had fun at the party?”

Rich hesitated to speak as he took off his coat and hung it up, revealing a black Christmas sweater, with little snowflakes on it, “Weeeelllllllll........”

He had this look on his face that only appeared whenever he did something stupid, and didn’t want Jake to find out, which was almost all the time. It was this mischievous smile, like he just found out a secret that he can’t tell anyone, but he also kind of wants to tell everyone what’s going on. In fact, it happened so often, that Jake could no longer not notice it.

“What did you do?” he asked his boyfriend with a sly smile

“About the party...” Rich struggled to get the words out.

“Uh huh?”

“I know you said you just wanted to spend a chill evening with me tonight...”

“Yeah?”

“But everyone missed you so much at the party.”

“Awwwww really?”

“Yeah, so then we all thought, ‘if we can’t bring you to the party, then we’ll bring the party to you!’”

“Wait what?”

Rich then opened the door and shouted, “ALRIGHT EVERYBODY, COME ON IN!”

Before Jake could even guess what was happening, all of his friends poured into the room, each of them greeting him with a cheerful “Merry Christmas!”

“Uh... Merry Christmas...” he replied in a pessimistic tone, confused as to why they were all here.

All of them were wearing ugly Christmas sweaters, except for Chloe, who was wearing a reindeer onesie. Jeremy’s sweater had a menorah on it, and words that read _‘Get Lit’_. Michael’s had a gingerbread man that read _‘Let’s get baked!’_. Christine’s had a candle on it that read _‘You light my candle’_. Brooke’s sweater had a check list on it, with the boxes being marked, _‘Naughty Nice’ and ‘I Try’._

 _‘I Try’_ was the only box that was checked off. And Jenna’s sweater read the words _‘Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal’_ , which was an obvious reference to one of the best Christmas films of all time, _‘Home Alone’_. Chloe was carrying a silver, plastic Christmas tree, that was about the size of Rich, and already had lights around it. Brooke was right beside her, with a box full of ornaments. Christine and Jenna were standing behind them, carrying so many decorations that some were falling out of their arms. They had tinsel, twinkly lights, mistletoe, and much more, probably enough to decorate a whole house. Jeremy was holding a big punch bowl, with red solo cups, and a ladle. And Michael had his portable record player in one hand, with a couple of Christmas albums on vinyl in the other.

“Jesus! This place has as much Christmas cheer as lump of coal,” Chloe said with a salty frown.

“Good thing we’re here,” Brooke said as she nudged Chloe’s shoulder, making her smile.

“LET’S CHRISTMAS THIS PLACE UP!” Christine shouted while throwing her hands up in the air, dropping all of her decorations on the floor. “I WILL PICK THOSE UP!” she gets aggressively happy during the holidays.

All the girls quickly separated into different areas of the room, while Jeremy, Michael, and Rich, disappeared into the hallway for some reason.

Chloe and Brooke were looking for a place to put their tree in a corner by the window, when Jake interfered and said, “Sorry guys, but you can put that tree out in the hall, cause Rich and I already have a tree.”

He then pointed to a tiny table top tree, in the corner on a small table.

“Aww it’s cute,” said Brooke, “It’s like the one from ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’”

“I just thought it was a tiny hotel plant.” Chloe brutally added.

“Chloe!” Brooke shouted.

“What?”

“My Christmas tree is fine” said Jake

“Oh of course it is,” said Brooke. “let’s just maybe put it over here for now,” she picked up table with the tree on it, and moved them both off to the side, “and see what our tree looks like over here.”

Chloe put the silver tree in the corner, plugged it in, and watched it light up.

“Wha- Hey!” Jake sounded offended.

“Don’t they both look pretty?” Brooke asked.

“Sure, but-“

CRASH

Jake turned around to see Christine standing up on a chair, with red garland in her hands, standing next to a lamp she knocked over.

“SORRY, MY BAD!” she shouted from across the room.

Jake turned back to Chloe and Brooke before saying “One sec,” and walking over to Christine.

“Christine, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Hanging up the tinsel,” she then turned to Jenna and said “hey Jenna, can you hand me more push-pins?”

“Sure,” Jenna replied gleefully, enjoying being part of the decoration process.

She handed Christine a small jar of multicoloured pins as Jake sneered “Look guys, this place doesn’t need any decorations, it was fine before.”

“C’mon Jake, there’s nothing wrong with a little extra Christmas cheer,” said Jenna.

“Yeah,” added Christine.

“I-“ Jake was once again interrupted when he heard something squeaky, roll in through the door.

He turned around to find Jeremy, Michael, and Rich, returning from the hallway, only this time with one of those tables on wheels from room service.

Jake turned back to Christine and Jenna and said “Hang on,” before walking over to the guys.

“I’m almost afraid to ask what you guys are doing,” he said with a disapproving frown.

“Relax Jake,” Michael said with a reassuring grin., “we just snagged this cool table out from the hallway is all.”

“Again, is this stealing?” Jeremy asked.

“Jeremy I told you before,” Rich wrapped his arm around Jeremy’s shoulder as he spoke, “when it comes to hotels, there’s no such thing as stealing! Everyone has taken all kinds of stuff from here. Shampoo, coffee, tv remotes. This room alone is chalk full of free stuff!”

“It’s not exactly all free if you’re living here,” Jake snidely corrected his boyfriend.

“Yeah, but all this stuff was already here before you and I moved in, the hotel was practically giving it away! Hahaha!”

While Rich marvelled at his knowledge of free loading, Michael went over to the bed where he left his portable record player and vinyl Christmas albums.

He picked them up and asked “How about I put on some Christmas tunes?”

Jake said “Please don’t,”

but was drowned out by everyone shouting “YEAH!”

Michael then plugged in the record player, and soon Brenda Lee’s _‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’_ was blasting throughout the room. Jake decided to deal with that later, and turned his attention back to the table.

“Why is this thing here?” he asked.

“Well we need somewhere to put Rich’s famous homemade eggnog,” Jeremy said as he placed the punch bowl on top of the table, along with the red cups and ladle.

Rich grabbed a carton of eggnog from the hotel mini-fridge, and a flask from his coat pocket.

“The two secret ingredients are store bought eggnog and rum from my dad’s liquor cabinet,” he said as he poured both liquids into the bowl and mixed both together.

Everyone screamed “Woooo!” as they all poured themselves a cup of eggnog, and went right back to work.

Jake was starting to reach his limit.

He turned to his boyfriend, and said “Rich I thought it was just gonna be you and me tonight.”

“I know Jake,” said Rich, “but like I said, everyone missed you so we brought the party here. Besides, we have every night for it to be just the two of us, but only one night a year to share this kind of joy with our friends.”

Jake couldn’t even think about what Rich just said with all the noise.

“SO THIS ONE GOES HERE, AND THAT ONE GOES THERE-“

“ALMOST DONE WITH THE TINSEL!“

“VOICES SINGING, LETS BE JOLLY- JEREMY DANCE WITH ME!”

“ALRIGHT, THATS IT! ENOUGH!”

Jake didn’t think everyone would hear him yell, but all eyes were on him. Even Michael scratched the record a bit before turning it off.

Since everyone was finally listening to him, Jake took his opportunity to be heard, “This is bullshit, ok. This was supposed to be a night for just Rich and I, and you’ve all wrecked it. None of this is what we wanted tonight. We don’t need a tree, we don’t need decorations, and we certainly don’t need music.”

Michael stepped forward like he was gonna fight Jake, but Jeremy held him back.

“We just wanted you to be part of the party,” said Chloe.

“Yeah well, I think I made it very clear by not showing up the first couple of years that there are some parties I’d rather not go to. And yet, you guys decided to barge in here, uninvited-”

“Which was never a problem before!” Michael interrupted before Jake continued ranting.

“-and just rub the party in my face?!”

“That’s not what we were doing here Jake!” Christine corrected him, absent of her aggressive happiness.

“Well whatever this was, it ruined my evening. So I suggest you get yourselves and your decorations the hell out of here, before I throw them into the hall myself.”

Taking a hint, everyone quickly and silently, took down their Christmas stuff, and went out into the hallway.

“You guys wait for me in the car,” Rich called out to his friends before glaring at his boyfriend and saying “I’ll be right there.” and slowly closed the door behind him.

Tension filled silence flowed through the air.

Rich then spoke up, and said “You want to explain to me what the hell just happened?!”

Jake hesitated before snapping back “Oh come on, you’re not seriously taking their side are you?”

“Jake, you just kicked all of our friends out on Christmas Eve, and all they wanted was for you to be part of the fun.”

“They know that Christmas isn’t really my thing, so if they were really my friends they would’ve respected that.”

Rich then sighed, and said “Alright, you wanna know the truth? Of why we were all here? You- you bum everyone out.”

“What?”

“You say that you’re fine with all this Christmas stuff even if it’s not your thing, but you act as if you’re disappointed in us for celebrating it.”

“No I don’t.”

“Oh really, whenever someone asks you about Christmas, you immediately change the subject. Whenever they ask for your opinion on lights, cookies, or gifts, you answer with the same ‘It’s ok’. In fact, whenever you see any of us doing any kind of Christmas-y stuff, you have the biggest, most widest, cringe ever, and I don’t think you even know you’re doing it.”

“I’ve never done that.”

“Even when I bought that tree, you made that look, and that’s when I knew to stop with the decorations. There’s tons of Christmas stuff I can’t do when I’m with you, and you’re the number one person I want to do it with. I can’t make gingerbread cookies with you, I can’t look at Christmas lights with you, I can’t even wear matching ugly Christmas sweaters with you.”

“I didn’t think you liked that kind of stuff.”

“I didn’t think so either, you know why, because I haven’t tried it yet,” Rich looked down at his nice, black, sweater, “I don’t even have an ugly sweater, this is the only Christmas one I have. I didn’t want buy an ugly one, cause I was afraid it might upset you.”

“So then why did you bring everyone here?”

“Because… every year at Christmas time, you get super depressed, and you shut everyone out. That’s why we wanted to bring the party to you, so we could show you all the best parts of Christmas and maybe cheer you up.”

Jake didn’t know what to say, he almost felt sorry until Rich spoke for him.

“But I guess that was a huge mistake, cause you ruined everyones Christmas, and I hope you’re happy.”

Jake couldn’t believe what Rich just said to his face. Rich couldn’t believe it either, and he kind of regretted it as soon as he opened his mouth. Nonetheless, he was too mad to think, and walked towards the door.

He opened it to find Jenna on the other side, who immediately ran down the hall screaming, “I WASN’T LISTENING I SWEAR!”

It didn’t even phase Rich, since nothing could phase him at this point.

Before leaving, he said “I’ll be at Chloe’s if you need me,” and slammed the door behind him.

When it was too late, Jake then finally got the courage to speak, “FINE,” he yelled, “GO BACK TO YOUR STUPID PARTY, SEE IF I CARE! MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!”

He backed away from the door as his eyes welled up with tears. Rich’s harsh words kept repeating in his head.

You ruined everyone’s Christmas

You ruined everyone’s Christmas

You ruined everyone’s Christmas

He clasped onto the bed and buried his face into a pillow, reflecting on just how he did such a terrible thing.

‘Let’s see,’ he thought, ‘I called all my friends and their Christmas stuff useless, yelled at them, and kicked them out on Christmas Eve, when they were just worried and trying to help me... trying to make me happy.’

Jake laid there in bed repeating the list in his mind, before thinking ‘I don’t deserve friends like them, and they don’t deserve me...

I wish I was never born.’

 

* * *

 

 

Time passed for what felt like hours, but was only really a few minutes. The hotel window shutters suddenly bursted right open, letting the cold air and snow blow in. Jake quickly got out of bed and closed the shutters. When he turned around, a stranger was in his hotel room.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH” Jake screamed as he fell off his feet in fear, nearly knocking over the table with the little tree.

Luckily, the tree as well as the one red bulb on it, stayed put. The stranger that was now standing over Jake, was all dressed in white. He was pretty tall too, probably just as tall as Jake (which is rare for him). He had dark skin, with brown eyes, and only a little bit of fuzz on top of his head for hair. And as crazy as it sounds, Jake was almost certain that this guy was glowing.

“Jake Dillinger,” the stranger spoke with a deep, yet kind voice, “don’t be afraid. For I am your gradian angel.”

Jake didn’t think he heard him right.

“And you and I need to have a little chat about this whole ‘wishing you weren’t born’ thing.”


	2. A Christmas Kleinman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even though Jared didn't celebrate Christmas, he was always such a Scrooge whenever the season rolled in, especially to his friends. When he takes his grouchiness a bit too far on Christmas Eve, he's visited by three familiar spirits, who try to show him the error of his ways in one night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Dear Evan Hansen in anyway possible

_Alana’s phone:_

 

_Dec. 20. 17._

 

_Hi Jared, it’s me Alana. Connor and Zoe invited us all to the annual Murphy’s Christmas Eve party. Will you be going?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: I know, I saw the invite_

 

_Will you be going?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: I don’t know_

 

_Oh, ok ttyl._

 

_Dec. 22. 17._

 

_Hi Jared,it’s me Alana. Evan just invited us all to hangout at his place after the party_

 

_Jared Kleinman: Yes I know, I was part of the group chat_

 

_Are you coming with us to the party, or do you just want to meet at Evan’s house later?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: I don’t know_

 

_Ok, just let me know what you’ll be doing soon._

 

_Dec. 24. 17._

 

_MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE JARED!!!_

 

_Jared Kleinman: Hey_

 

_So will we be seeing you at the Murphy’s Christmas Eve party?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: No_

 

_Oh, well what about Evan’s house?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: No_

 

_But we’re going to have so much fun at Evan’s._

 

_Jared Kleinman: I’m still not going Alana_

 

_Why not?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: Cause I don’t want to_

__

_Oh come on, please Jared?_

 

_Jared Kleinman: No, just leave me alone_

 

 

Alana closed her phone, as she got ready to leave for the party. Zoe and Connor planed to pick her and Evan up on their way home from the pie shop, where their mom told them to go grab some more pies for the party. She stepped outside into the snow, as the Zoe’s blue Volo pulled up in front of her house.

As Alana got into car, she greeted everyone with a friendly “Hey, Merry Christmas Eve!”

Her friends responded with the same greeting cheerfully, “Merry Christmas Eve!” even Connor, who’s surprisingly less cynical during the holidays.

He was sitting up front with his sister, while Evan sat next to Alana in the back.

Zoe pulled out on to the road as Alana said “So listen, before we go to this party, I was just texting Jared a little while ago, and he sounded pretty upset. I think we should stop by his house for a bit, just to check on him.”

Connor and Evan then looked at her as if she just spoke in a foreign language (Alana could feel the same look coming off of Zoe, even though she was driving).

“Not to be rude on Christmas Alana, but why in your right mind would you want to do that?” asked Evan.

“Because I care about him,” she said, “don’t you?”

“Of course I do, but while you might see it as checking on him, he might see it as bothering him. What were you texting about anyway?”

“Well, over the week, I kept asking him if he was coming with us to the party, he just kept responding with ‘I don’t know’. And his final answer on the matter today, was simply ‘No’.”

“So, how is Jared turning down an invitation to a social event any different from usual?”

“Before you guys showed up, he told me to just leave him alone.”

“Maybe that’s just his new way of saying goodbye,” said Connor, “I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to skip this party though, it’s just gonna be a bunch of loud, drunk, adults. New Years Eve is specifically made for that type of group, why can’t they wait till then?”

“Connor, you promised mom that you’d be nice for the party,” said Zoe.

“This _is_ me being nice.”

“Now _that_ I believe,” said Evan.

“Guys cmon, this is serious,” Alana tried to get the conversation back on track.

“Jared doesn’t even celebrate Christmas Alana, that’s a pretty good reason for not wanting to go to this party” said Zoe.

“That doesn’t mean he should have to miss out on an awesome evening with his friends, besides if that were the real reason he was missing out on this party, than how come the rest of his family are attending?”

“They’re not attending,” Connor said before turning to his sister “Wait, are they?”

“Mom did say they RSVP’d” Zoe answered.

“I remember when my mom used to throw Christmas parties at our house,” said Evan, “she’d invite all her friends from the hospital, along with the Kleinmans of course. Jared would show up every year with his family, he never seemed to like it, but he still showed up. He even gave me a gift each year, though it was always the same thing, a pair of socks with a couple of trees on them.”

“You still love the socks, don’t you” said Connor.

“I do actually, I really do. Anyway, one year Jared stoped coming and I no longer had a reason to come out of my bedroom during the parties. My mom had to stop throwing them, since they made me feel more and more anxious, without Jared around.”

“Awww,” Alana sadly cooed..

“But things have changed Alana. Nowadays during Christmas, he always shuts everyone out and pretends the holiday doesn’t exist.”

“Oh god, that sounds terrible, he must be upset about something. Can we please go check on him?” Alana begged.

“When Jared Kleinman tells you to leave him alone, it’s best to respect his words and do as such,” Connor said as Zoe drove up to a stop sign.

She stopped the car, and turned the left blinker on. Alana was not about to leave her friend behind on the most wonderful day of the year. She tried being nice, she tried pleading, she tried begging, but now was the time to pull out the big guns. Time to put on a show.

“Alright then,” she sighed over dramatically, “I guess we’ll leave him alone, that’s ok. I just wanted all of my friends to be together on this magical evening of friendship, family, and love. Not leaving one behind... that’s all.”

Alana listened to the motor run as she began to think her impromptu plan didn’t work.

That’s when Zoe suddenly hit the dashboard, shouted “Dammit!” and switched the blinker to the right.

Connor asked “What are you doing?”, but it was to late, Zoe was already turning in the direction of Jared’s house.

“Oh cmon Zo, don’t do this,” Evan whined in disappointment.

“I’m sorry, but this girl knows how to make someone feel guilty,” Zoe said as she pointed at Alana behind her, making Alana smile warmly and blush at her own accomplished scheme.

“Fine, we’ll go to Jared’s,” Evan said as he turned to Alana, “but you better not get upset if he rejects you again.”

Alana kept on smiling and said “Trust me, he won’t. Not when he sees how happy we are to see him, with our smiling faces.”

“…..have you met Jared Kleinman?”

 

* * *

 

The Kleinman house was silent and still as Jared laid on the couch in the den. He thought that maybe he could sleep through this entire holiday without having to deal with it. It was already a huge help that his family didn’t celebrate Christmas, but it wasn’t enough. Even without leaving his house, Jared just couldn’t escape the cursed holiday. From his neighbour’s blinding Christmas lights that stayed on all night from across the street, to the annoying Christmas specials constantly airing on tv, to the tacky Christmas cards his family would receive from their friends. Which is why whenever the Christmas season rolled in, Jared made it his mission to ignore the entire thing. He’d sleep in bed all the time, except for when he’s watching Netflix. Sometimes he’d get up to do Hanukkah activities with his family, which he did enjoy, but wanted to go back to bed as soon as they were done. Jared treated Christmas like a pesky fly, trying to ignore it and pretending to be unfazed, as it buzzed all around him. His parents along with his older and younger brother, attended the Murphys Christmas eve party every year. They used to go to Christmas parties at the Hansens, but since Heidi stoped throwing those parties, she invited the Kleinmans over with her to the Murphys as her guest every year. Just because the Kleimans didn’t celebrate Christmas, doesn’t mean they didn’t love a good party. Plus, the Hansens were their friends, and they loved being with them. However, Jared saw Evan everyday, and knew he could survive one or two nights without him, not to mention his other friends. Jared’s family had just left for the party, and he decided to sleep on the couch instead of his bed to mix things up.

As he laid there, on his stomach, his face buried in a couch cushion, he kept thinking to himself on repeat, ‘Just two more days. You’re almost there.’

That’s when he suddenly heard a knock at the door. Jared was confused since he knew his family wasn’t to return until midnight at the most.

‘It can’t be midnight already,’ he thought.

He looked at the digital clock, on the side table, near the couch.

9:34pm

It was only four minutes since his family left the house, so Jared wondered who it could be.

‘Maybe they forgot something,’ he thought as he got up from the couch, and walked towards the door.

When he turned the knob and openedit, he was surprised to find all of his friends right outside, but not pleasantly. Alana was front and centre, with a cherry smile on her face, while the rest were smiling nervously and looking down at their feet.

They all greeted him with an unenthusiastic “Hey,” with Alana adding “Merry Christmas Jared!”

Jared was caught in a daze, all he could say was “umm… hi.”

Without warning, Alana let herself in by giving Jared a big bear hug, squeezing him tightly. Jared did not hug back, mostly because he was too busy trying to breath.

When she released him, she swung him around and said “I know you said you weren’t coming to the party, but since we’re on our way to the party ourselves, we thought that we’d swing by and ask you ‘why not?’”

Jared turned to the rest of his friends who were still outside and asked “Seriously?”

“It was mostly her idea,” said Evan, “but you were pretty vague in the texts you sent her.”

Jared sighed, feeling irritated, and turned back to Alana, who seemed as though to have so much hope in her eyes, that they sparkled.

“You couldn’t of asked me this over the phone?”

“Well I figured that you were probably too upset to answer the phone. So I decided to apply a more personal touch to the situation.”

Jared rubbed his fingers against his temple, and said “Alana I’m not going to the party, because I don’t want to.”

“I know that, but why?”

“Because I don’t want to, end of story.”

“That’s not really an answer.”

“Well here’s an answer, my family and I don’t even celebrate Christmas, and you know that.”

“Then how come the rest of your family is attending the party?”

Jared’s mouth suddenly went dry, “Th-they just like parties, another thing you know I don’t do.”

“That’s why we’re all planning to just hang out at Evan’s later tonight and take it easy. We’re not exactly party people either.”

“Then why are you guys going?”

Alana smiled as her eyes lit up even more, “Because Christmas is a time full of magic, magic that brings friends and family closer. A time that reminds us of the love that binds us together. We’re not gonna miss out on an evening dedicated to that, and you don’t have to either. You shouldn’t have to miss out on an awesome evening with your friends, just because you don’t celebrate a certain holiday. Come and join us, then we can all have a fun night together.”

When Jared couldn’t think up anymore excuses not to go, he just rolled his eyes, slowly clapped, and said “Great performance Alana, you almost had me convinced, but I’m still not going.”

“Oh cmon Jared!”

“No,” Jared did an about face.

“It’ll be super fun, I guarantee it.”

“No.”

“Pleeeeaaaasssseeee?” she asked as she stepped in front of Jared to face him properly.

Jared was starting to reach his limits. He knew that Alana just wanted him to be included, but all he wanted was to be left alone.

“You know what Alana? You wanna real answer of why I’m not going? Here’s your answer, Christmas is nothing but a huge waste of time and money. A load of crap telling people that doing these stupid traditions will somehow make everything better.”

Alana suddenly found it more difficult to speak, “I-I think your missing the point.”

“Well, since you clearly can’t take a hint that I don’t wanna go to your dumb party, I thought I might as well help you see my point. I don’t want to go, CAUSE I HATE CHRISTMAS!”

Alana gasped in horror.

“So I suggest you take your stupid Christmas magic, and get out!”

Tears welled up in Alana eyes as she ran out the door, and into the car.

“Alana wait!” Evan called after her.

“I’ll go help her,” Zoe said as she left the door step, “Connor come with me.”

Connor quickly followed his sister, for he just wanted to get away from all the tension now swarming in Jared’s living room . Evan however, couldn’t be angrier with Jared, he’s never seen Alana that upset before.

Holding nothing back, he let himself in and asked “What was that?”

Still mad with annoyance Jared answered “She wouldn’t stop pestering me.”

“That doesn’t mean you yell at her to the point of break.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault she’s terrible at taking a hint.”

It is true, sometimes Alana would let her ambitions get the best of her, but that didn’t excuse Jared from what he did.

“That’s not the point. We all know that Alana can sometimes be too ambitious-

“Yes! Exactly! Thank you!”

“-but that’s just who she is, and she always uses her ambitions for good. She only wanted all of us, her friends, to spend a fun evening together, and you just drove her to tears… on Christmas eve!”

The way Evan said it in such cruel detail did make Jared feel a little sorry about his actions, but he was too angry and stubborn to admit anything to Evan, let alone himself.

“I hope you’re happy,” Evan said before doing an about face, “Have a Merry Christmas,” and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

Jared’s little flame of empathy was then absorbed by the raging fire of anger inside him. He madly paced around the living room, keeping the fire well lit with his hurtful thoughts.

‘Who the fuck do they think they are?’ he asked himself ‘All I wanted was too be left alone, and suddenly I’m the bad guy?’

Not unlike Alana, tears started to well up in Jared’s eyes.

He then clenched his fists and screamed at the top of his voice, “FUCK YOU CHRISTMAS!” before storming upstairs and into his room.

He buried his face into a pillow and kept screaming with rage, while punching the mattress. He did this for a while until he gave out and hoped that he’d fall asleep soon enough to forget about it.

 

* * *

 

Suddenly, Jared heard a strange sound from downstairs, sounded like the clatter of cold, steal chains. Jared couldn’t begin to think where a sound like that would come from in his own house, when the noisy chains slowly made their way up the stairs. Jared then thought it was probably a burglar and tried to keep still, not making a sound. The sound of chains suddenly stopped right outside his bedroom door.

If Jared wasn’t already freaked out, an eerie, ghost like voice, moaned “ _Jared Kleinman_ ,” from the other side of the door.

“Oh shit!” Jared mumbled, hoping this wasn’t real.

That’s when a ghost like figure emerged from Jared’s bedroom wall. Surprisingly, the figure looked just like him! Only with skin more pale, wearing clothes ripped and torn, and of course being cuffed to a bunch of heavy looking chains around his wrists and neck.

“ _Jared Kleinman,_ ” the figure moaned again.

“W-Who are you? And what the fuck do y-you want w-with me?” Jared asked, shaking out of his skin.

“Do not be alarmed,” the spirit spoke with a less eerie tone, “for I come with a warning, that will be of great help for you tonight.”

Fear than turned to confusion, for Jared had no idea what this ghost was talking about, “Huh?”

“You see Jared, I was once like you,” the ghost pointed at him with his lifeless finger, “deprived of the jolly spirit I once had, and taking my anger out on everyone for it.”

Jared felt agitated by the spirit’s comment, “Hold on, since when did I have the jolly spir-“

“And so as punishment, I’m forced to wear these heavy chains,” the ghost picks up the chains, and throws them in the air, “for all eternity!”

“Punishment? By who?”

“The very reason I’m here. Tonight, you will be visited by three spirits.”

“What? Why?”

“They’ll explain why. Just listen to them, do as they say, or your chains will be heavier than mine.”

Jared than rubbed his neck, imagining a cold, steal chain, tightening around his throat.

The ghost then started to float backwards out of the room, “Expect the first ghost tonight, when the clock says 10!”

“First ghost? Wait, can’t I meet them all at once and get it over with?”

“When the clock says 10!” the spirit repeated before fully disappearing through the walls.

Jared didn’t know what the fuck just happened, but it all seemed way too freaky to be real. He reached under his bed, and took out a little cardboard box. Inside, was a small bag of pot, and some weed gummies. It was just how he left it, but maybe he ate some gummies and forgot about it? That seemed like the most reasonable explanation. That he was just on the freakiest high he’s ever been on. Jared then noticed his digital clock on his bed side table.

9:59pm

‘Oh shit.’

Jared tried to calm himself down, thinking that these visions were just drug induced hallucinations. The clock changed to 10:00pm and Jared embraced himself for what was coming. His room remained still, as nothing happened.

Jared felt relieved until he heard an ominous voice, similar to ghost in chains, yell “EXPECT THE FIRST GHOST WHEN THE CLOCK SAYS 10!”

Suddenly, a white light then appeared in his closet, seeping through the cracks of the doors.

Jared slowly approached the closet, thinking that whatever was in there, was probably similar to the ghost he met before. He swiftly opened the closet doors, like ripping off a bandaid, and something white flew right over him, landing on the other side of the room. Jared was right, this spirit was familiar, in a way. It looked just like Zoe, wearing a beautiful, long and sparkling white gown. She also had a pair of big, luminescent wings on her back, like an angel.

“Z-Zoe?” Jared mumbled, a part of him thinking if it was actually her.

“Hmmm?” she seamed confused, “Oh no, you’d be mistaken Jared,” she said, “for I am The Ghost of Christmas Past!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you guys liked the previews, cause you'll have till next year for the rest of the stories!
> 
> Merry Late Christmas!


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